A culture of invitation

I was reading in the papers about the beginning of the Lambeth conference, the gathering of bishops from all over the Anglican Communion that happens every ten years.
880 bishops were invited, some chose not to come this time, but over 660 bishops have come from all over the world, representing a wide range of colours, races and cultures.
Prior to attending the Lambeth Conference in Canterbury the visiting bishops have been invited to stay all in English Dioceses over the country. Bishops from Trinidad and Tobago have stayed in Chelmsford, Canadians and Australians in Durham, and South Africans in Lichfield to name just a few.
Four bishops from The Solomon Islands and Vanuatu and five African bishops, and their wives, were in the Diocese of Chester enjoying local hospitality. Our diocese has strong links with the Church of Melanesia (The Solomon Islands and Vanuatu) and with Anglicans in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Invitation, hospitality and welcome are essential parts of our Christian faith. We all know how good it is to be invited in, especially when we’re in a strange place and don’t know anyone. Many of Jesus’ parables speak about our God throwing a party and inviting us all; Jesus certainly put that into practice by inviting people of all sorts to come and share a meal, and follow him.
That’s why I think it’s important for our Churches to focus more strongly on creating a ‘Culture of Invitation’. We need to realise that coming to church can be like going to a foreign country for most of the people in our neighbourhoods.
I would like us to have the ‘Culture of Invitation’ as the basis for our worship and ministry. As we plan our worship and our social events, to consciously make it easier to invite people to them. We will need to publicise them more widely, and make it easy for all our people to give out invitations to friends and neighbours.
This should mark all our celebrations in the Church’s calendar, including Christmas, Easter, Harvest and of course ‘Back to Church Sunday’ on 28th September. I’d love us to have a programme of events covering each month of the year, including worship services that are easy to come along to, and social events full of fun and fellowship.
We can invite family and friends, neighbours, and those we meet in happy and sad times, such as baptism families and those who have been bereaved. As with the Lambeth Conference, not everyone will accept our invitation. But some will, and they will discover what a warm and welcoming church we are, and what a loving saviour we have.